the one that got away
by missing-in-venice
Summary: She knows that he would have to break his promise eventually, it was inevitable. But it hurt way, way more than she thought it would. Takes place after SE3. Two-parter, D/E.
1. part I

**I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of it's characters.**

_All these money can't buy me a time machine, no_  
><em>Can't replace you with a million rings, no<em>  
><em>I should've told you what you meant to me, whoa<em>  
><em>'Cause now I pay the price<em> 

Things go back to normal, as normal as things can go, anyways. Klaus is dead, and Stefan is back to himself. Almost himself, Elena notices everytime they get close he flinches. But Damon and Caroline are helping him as much as they can, and that should be enough. _It will be worth it _is Elena's daily mantra.

Elena pulls into the driveway and lets herself into the boarding house, getting a text from Stefan that says he's hunting and will be back later. Stefan has been hunting almost every day, doing anything to keep control. So she heads up to see Damon, and the way to his room is natural. She opens his door without knocking, and the first thing she notices is that things are missing. His bed and dresser and other furniture are still there, but the personal items are missing; the stack of books on his nightstand, the trinkets on his desk, almost everything. She doesn't know how long she stands there, taking it all in and trying to find out what it all means even though she already knows.

Her feet carry her to his closet, where she pushes his door open slowly. And everything is gone; all his black tshirts and button ups, shoes, pants; everything. All that remains are hangers that dangle eerily, too light on their own without the expensive clothing to hang on them. Elena slinks down to the floor, running her hands through her hair and trying to recall the last time she saw him.

It had been three days ago, when she was coming downstairs from Stefan's room and heading home when she saw him, standing in front of the fire with his ever present glass of bourbon and a blank expression on his face. She had asked him if everything was okay, and he didn't answer her, didn't even look at her.

She should have known he was planning this, should have known that he wouldn't stick around and watch her be with his brother. But he _promised _her. Promised that he would never leave her again.

Elena doesn't know how long she sits there, tears streaming down her face and trying to ignore the small empty part in her heart.

* * *

><p>Time doesn't heal wounds over time, Elena realizes. And really, she already knew that, because she's lost so many people and the only thing that makes it better is having the people you love in your life. Which is minus one. Again.<p>

Months pass by, with no sign of Damon. Stefan has tried to reaasure her, that maybe he'd come back, maybe it was temporary, but it's proved to be wrong. Stefan knows that he should be happy that his brother is gone, thought that he would be, but he realizes with a shock that he's not. Of course, that could be because the woman he loves is often staring blankly into space when she thinks of his brother, but he knows thats not all of it. Damon helped him with the blood, the flip of the switch that Klaus forced on him, and somewhere along the way, they really became brothers again. Sort of.

Her and Stefan kind of drift apart. Not completely, he's still here, which is more than she can say of his brother, but it's like they're not really together _together_ anymore. Stefan saw it in her eyes that day, still sees it in them, she's in love with Damon, and Elena knows that he knows, which kind of means things can't really be the same again. Honestly, things were never the same between them since Klaus died. That thin thread of control that Stefan has hangs in between them constantly, and of course the emotional damage he caused when he was an unfeeling, out of control ass is still there.

* * *

><p>One day, Elena starts panicking. It's while she's laying in her bed, she had just woken up from a dream she can't really remember but it nontheless scared her and she tries to think of Damon's face. The panick kicks in when she realizes she can't remember the exact details of him. Of course, she still remembers how devastatingly beautiful he was and how when he flashed her that smile her heart would take off. But she can't remember the exact messiness of his hair and what pains her worse the exact blue of his eyes. But what bothers her the most is that she realized what he meant to her after he left, and now he'll never know.<p>

She picks up her phone and dials his number, which has been on speed dial 2 for so long that she hasn't even bothered changing it. It doesn't ring, doesn't even voicemail.

_The number you dialed has been disconnected, please try again later._

She does try again, and again and again until she's crying broken, ugly sobs and throwing her phone at the wall.

* * *

><p>Time passes by. Eventually, she has to apply for college, and she automatically sends in an application to Duke. She gets the acceptance letter a week later, and she idly thinks of Isobel and the phrase <em>the apple never falls far from the tree. <em>Stefan had left Mystic Falls about two months earlier, she suspects with Katherine, but she didn't feel the pang of jealousy she expected. He promised to stay in touch and Elena had all but shoved him out the door. She wanted him to be free, to not have to stay with her because she was a big girl. She feels his absense sometimes, but it's not that bad, because she realized that when she lost one she had already lost the other, too.

So she packs her bags and kisses Jeremy good bye, tells him to stay off the pot and to do good in school. Caroline hugs her, and doesn't let go for what seems like forever, but eventually Elena complains that she has to breathe and Caroline lets her go with a teary smile. She tells Tyler to take care of her friend, and Tyler replies with a "Don't worry, 'Lena. I'm a hybrid, remember?" She drives to the Mystic Grill to say goodbye to Matt, who throws an arm around her and tells her to take care of herself.

Bonnie is probably the hardest to say goodbye to, though, and when she starts crying, Bonnie hugs her and tells her that Duke is only a couple of hours away.

"I know, but it just feels like I'm leaving forever." Elena says, sounding silly but realizing it's true.

Alaric drives her there and Elena's thinking about Damon. She remembers when she hated him for killing Jeremy, and gave him the silent treatment in this very same car going to the very same place. Who knew she'd go from hating him to loving him.

When Ric drops her off, she doesn't say anything, just hugs him and doesn't let go until his shirt is stained from her tears. He promises to come visit every other weekend.

* * *

><p>One day, a year later when Elena is 21 and in her sophemore year at Duke, she's walking up to the apartment she shares with her friend, Kyla. Kyla was at college mainly for the parties and booz, and Elena tended to do most of the grocery shopping. So while she's attempting to unlock the door while remaining her grip on the plastic bags, the door opens. Kyla takes a few of the bags from her while Elena takes off her jacket.<p>

"Oh, someone's here to see you. You would tell me if he had a brother, right?" Kyla says as she shuts the door behind her. Elena narrows her eyes and walks towards the living room.

And there he is. Leaning against the window frame and staring at her with eyes that are so much better than she remembers. She stops when she sees him, and they both stand there and stare at each other.

"Damon." she says, the corners of her lips tugging into a smile.

They both walk forward until they're standing right in front of each other and Elena stares into his cerulean eyes and thinks, thats where she wants to stay.

* * *

><p><strong>Stole that last like from the song Thinking Of You by Katy Perry, kind of. It's a great song.<strong>

**Anways, what do you think? **


	2. part II

_You're the finest thing that I've done_

_The hurricane I'll never outrun_

_I could wait around for the dust to still_

_But I don't believe that it ever will_

* * *

><p>Elena doesn't know how long they stand there, staring at each other and just taking one another in. Somehow, they end up sitting on the couch.<p>

"What are you doing here?" she asks him, even though she doesn't really care what the reason is.

He shrugs, "I was in town, thought I'd stop by." He says casually, but Elena sees something lying just underneath a layer in his eyes that says this is anything but casual.

Elena nods slowly, and neither says anything for a moment. She decides not to push him on why exactly he's in town, because at least he's here, and that's enough for now.

She doesn't really know what she was expecting when she saw him again. Hell, she didn't even know if she was ever going to see him again. Sometimes, when she let herself think of him, she wondered if he had gone back to how he was before they became friends. But something always told her that that wasn't the truth, and that he wouldn't do that again. Of course, she knew that he wasn't out hunting bunnies and squirrels, but she never worried too much about it.

Elena shakes herself out of her thoughts, and turns her attention back to Damon. He's staring out the bay window, into the orange and pink sunset that serves as the perfect backdrop for the occasion.

"You broke your promise." She states, and Damon snaps his eyes to hers.

He sighs and rolls his eyes, "How'd I know that would be the first thing you'd say?"

Elena ignores the jab, "Why, Damon?" she asks.

Damon shakes his head, "You know exactly why, Elena."

She nods, because really, she does know. "Stupid question, I guess."

Damon smiles at her, and God, her heart is taking off just like she remembers and she's staring at him like she never got the chance to.

"So… do you have a place to stay at? You are staying, right?" Elena asks, subtle playfulness in her voice. He raises an eye, and her smile grows wider.

"Well, this is _a lot _nicer than the motel down the street."

* * *

><p>It's kind of just implied that he's staying there, with her. Elena doesn't know how he got the hint, but he knows that things are different now. Maybe he sees the way she looks at him sometimes, or maybe he just misses her, but whatever reason, he's staying.<p>

Or maybe it was because he told her he ran into Stefan and Katherine in New York. That seems more believable.

* * *

><p>They're good together. Always have been, really. But now their potential is so much bigger because the elephant is no longer in the room like it had been before.<p>

His teeth graze her neck while he hovers over her and moves slowly, dragging the sensations out. Her breath is becoming more labored with each stroke and her legs are wrapped around his waist. Soon, she's calling out his name and to his surprise, she asks him to bite her.

When he does, she feels everything that she was always meant to.

* * *

><p>He helps her study for her end of the year test, and only tries to distract her about five times, in which she attempts to hit him with one of her twenty pound text books, but he just dodges it and pulls her on top of him. And they do it all over again.<p>

Elena loves it.

* * *

><p>She thought that Alaric and Jeremy and everyone else would disapprove, but surprisingly, they're happy. Happy that she's happy, anyways. Alaric claps Damon on the back when he sees him, and Elena remembers that her kind of dad lost a friend, too. Jeremy calls Damon a dick for leaving, but Elena can see amusement shining in his eyes.<p>

"It's about time." Caroline squeaks out.

Bonnie doesn't say much, but at least she doesn't light him on fire.

* * *

><p>Of course, it's not perfect. They fight, about stupid things because he can be childish and she's stubborn, but it's worth it. He never apologizes, but it's always about the little things. He'll drive to her campus, even know she knows that he hates being there, and bring her food from her favorite Thai place. When she gets home, she drags him to her bedroom and everything is alright again.<p>

One day, she realizes that she wants to be with him forever. She already knew, deep inside, but it kind of just hits her one night when they're in bed. Their skin is blended together as he lays on top of her, still inside of her with his face buried in her neck.

She kind of just blurts it out, and he turns his face up to look at her, and nods slowly.

The moonlight casts a glow on his eyes and Elena is almost giddy when she realizes that she never has to look away again.

And when she smiles at him, he returns it and her heart takes off.

* * *

><p><strong>Tell me what ya think, eh?<strong>


End file.
